


the course of true love (never did run smooth)

by startswithhope



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Future Fic, Light Angst, Smut, Spoilers, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 13:48:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7760227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/startswithhope/pseuds/startswithhope
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finally having time to think about all that has occurred and what it all means, Emma has an emotional conversation with Killian about True Love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the course of true love (never did run smooth)

 

The face looking back at her in the mirror is a bit unfamiliar, slightly puffy eyes and a slight quiver to her lips both evidence of an emotionally vulnerable Emma she’s still giving herself a chance to get to know. Emotions brought to the surface during her session with Archie had to be quickly tamped down again as Cinderella’s crisis put _The Savior_ back to work. But now, back home with nothing but quiet and Killian waiting for her in their bed, her heart feels lodged in her throat at the conversation she knows they need to have. **  
**

Stepping out of the bathroom, she snatches up the t-shirt she’d worn this morning as she’d watched Killian curse to himself as he’d tried to get the toaster to cooperate with his high standards of golden brown waffle. She’d stayed at her perch on the stool, sipping her coffee and smiling at his back, not caring in the slightest that he’d gone through an entire box of Eggo’s.

“Darling, you know that will just find it’s way to the floor, so why even put it on?”

Pleasure courses through her at his gravelly spoken promise, the soft cotton of the t-shirt brushing her tightening nipples as she ignores his request. It’s not an easy thing, not when he’s sitting with his back against the headboard with those eyes of his staring her down with unveiled interest. She could give in and avoid this conversation if she wanted to and he would be none the wiser. Instead, she takes a steadying breath before moving to the foot of the bed, using the mattress to steady her wobbly knees.

“Can we talk?”

The look in his eyes changes in an instant, desire morphing to concern as he sits up straighter and his hand lifts from the quilt towards her in invitation.

“Of course, love, is everything alright?”

“Yeah, I just…”

She needs to be closer to him, to feel him strong and present beneath her if she’s going to get through this. He watches her intently as she crawls up onto the bed and shuffles forward until she can perch herself on his thighs just above his knees, close enough to take his hand, but far enough that she can’t just kiss him and allow herself to lose her nerve. His fingers are warm and squeezing tightly as she tangles hers between them and places their now joined hands into her open palm in the space between her legs.

“Emma?”

She doesn’t want him to be concerned, so she finds a smile and forces her practiced thoughts from her lips.

“You know I’m bad at this, so, bear with me.”

Killian has this thing he does when he can tell she needs encouragement, this slight dip of his head that’s a bit like a nod, but more than that somehow. He does it again now, without fail, his eyes so full of warmth she can feel a bit of her nerves settle and her heartbeat begin to slow. He loves her, unconditionally. It’s a heady, overwhelming thing sometimes knowing this, but now, it’s the just reminder she needs to remember that she can trust him with this.

“This True Love thing, I’m having a bit of trouble coming to terms with it and all that it means…for me, no…for us. When we passed the test, I was happy, so happy, because I thought it meant I could save you. Magic, for once, felt like the answer and I was okay with that. But, I wasn’t being honest with myself, or with you, and I’m afraid if I am I will ruin everything.”

“Emma, do you love me?”

She can hear no panic in his question and knows immediately where he is going with with it, so she answers truthfully and with the assurance she thinks he needs to hear.

“Yes, with all of my heart.”

“Then there is nothing you can say, or feel, that will ever ruin what we have. I need to know what is troubling you, love.”

It’s not a loss of nerves, but need that has her leaning forward to brush his lips with hers. She pulls back before he can really kiss her back, but lingers long enough for his whispered “I love you” to cut one of the tethers of her barely contained emotions. When she leans back she can feel the first burn of tears at the back of her eyelids, but focuses down at their still joined hands and forces herself to continue.

“I’m not a huge fan of feeling as though my fate is out of my control. It’s why it took so long for me to accept my role as The Savior and why what my parents did to Malificent’s child, just to keep me from having darkness, felt like such a betrayal. I like knowing my choices matter, even when they are the wrong ones. Finding out that my love for you is part of some big, magical plan, it’s left me feeling…angry, or something like that. I don’t know…”

She has to stop to let her tears fall and force a breath through her throat that feels as if it’s closing in on itself with pent up emotion. Killian fumbles until he can free his hand from hers and she finds herself leaning towards his palm as he cups her cheek and tries to soothe her through her oncoming sobs. His stumped wrist comes out from beneath the covers to settle at her back to try to pull her closer, which she does, balancing her hands against his chest and her forehead against his lips.

“I thought I chose…to love you.” Her words are barely audible as she forces them through her tears, but she’s somehow managing to get them out so she doesn’t stop. “I need it…to be my choice. I don’t want it to be cheapened…by magic.”

Her cheeks and throat flush with heat at this final confession and she braces herself for his reaction, her fingertips pressing against the heavy rise and fall of his chest. The sudden shifting of his hand to pull her face upwards is the only warning she has before she has her breath stolen by the force of his kiss. Just as she’s let forth her emotions, he’s doing the same and she reaches forward to grip his neck as she does her best to hang on. As her fingers slide into the back of his hair, his do the same into the base of her messy knot, gently tugging until it falls apart. As her hair falls about her shoulders his lips pull back on a shaky breath, his hand keeping her close as if he isn’t sure if he’s quite done kissing her.

“You chose to kiss me first, Emma, and every choice we’ve both made since then, has been our own. In my heart I know this to be true, and I hope you do, too.”

“It’s what I want to believe…”

He leans his head back from her at that and she can see his look of determination as he locks his slightly watery eyes on hers.

“You know that’s not how it works, love. You can’t want to believe something, you just have to believe it.”

“I know, it’s just…magic…”

“Magic is just giving our love power, strengthening it, but not guiding it. Do you think you’d care for me any less if we’d found out our love wasn’t True?”

She doesn’t even have to think about that question, which as simple as it is, manages to wash away all of her fears all at once.

“No.”

“Do you need me to answer that question for you as well, love?”

No, she doesn’t.

Shaking her head, she closes the minimal distance between them and kisses the smile from his lips. His response is immediate, his lips slanting hot and open beneath hers as she slides more firmly into his lap in search of more contact, more of him. She needs what comes next, the emotional connection of their bodies becoming one, to lose her breath as she falls apart in his arms. His hand sliding from her hair to the back of her t-shirt has her grinning against his lips and her hands releasing his face so she can help him lift the material over her head. He was right about the t-shirt after all.

He takes advantage of her height when she lifts her hips to pull the covers from his legs to tug her now uncovered nipple between his lips, his tongue working her now puckered tip as pleasure shoots straight down to her core. Her fingers cling to the headboard as her knees threaten to buckle when his lips slide wet and hot across her sternum to lavish attention on her other breast, his mouth unyielding in it’s path. She’s close to falling apart already, so when she feels his knuckles sliding down her stomach towards her panties, she begins to tremble with anticipation.

He doesn’t touch her as expected, instead barely brushing against her as he hooks his fingers around the material to pull it to the side before moving his hand to the side of her hip. His breath is ragged as he releases her breast and she peers down to see him looking up at her with such desperate need that her body acutely aches to fulfill it. Reaching blindly, she finally gets the covers pulled back beneath her and finds him hard and ready beneath her fingertips.

“Emma, let me feel you, please…”

They both cry out as she aligns herself and begins to slide down over his length, but Killian’s mouth finds hers again as he fills her completely and they take shallow breaths together between muggy kisses. She loses count of how many times they say “I love you” as their bodies move together, as she kisses the sweat from his brow and he sucks a mark into the hollow of her throat. Her hand finds his on her breast and guides his fingers to where they are joined, urging him to press down as she rises and falls with increased speed. She needs to come, to give release to her body as she has her emotions, to feel her body clamp down and bring him along with her.

At the first flutter of her orgasm she takes him in as deep as possible, fingers clutching the skin of his back as his body beneath her moves upwards to seek further. When she falls, she has nowhere to go but his arms, and he is there to catch her. His release comes with her head buried against his neck, her lips feeling his cry of pleasure vibrate from his throat and into her hair.

Her knees are numb and she’s over-warm and covered in sweat, but she doesn’t want to be the one to put an end to this perfect moment. By the force of his arms still locked around her, she thinks he must feel the same. His head shifts and she realizes he’s pressing kisses into her hair and there’s something in that simple act that sets her heart beating at an even faster pace inside of her chest. When his lips find their way to her temple she leans back so she he can see her eyes, not wanting him to miss the conviction behind her next words.

“I chose you.”

She smiles at the knowledge of what he will say in return.

“And I, you.”


End file.
